Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-08-18
THE NORTHWEST
THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OHIO.
copyrighted. All rights reserred.l
THE HABIrATs OF THE INDIANS,
BIZ W. FARRAND FELcH.

Copyrighted. All rights reSerred.
THE HABIrATs OF THE INDIANS.
About the middle of the last century our
authentic knowledge of the various locales of
the Indian tribes begins; at that time the
principal Indian tribes were the Delawares,
Shawnees. Wyandots, (called Hurons by the
French) the Mingoes, ian Iroquois off-shoot)
the Chippewas and Ottawas. The Wyandots
held sway on and in the vicinity of the San
dusky river; the 0ttawas were on the Maumee
and Sandusky rivers, while the Ohippewas
were confined mainly TO the southern shore
of Lake Erie. The Mingoes, probably the
only Iroquois tribe in Ohio, had their head
quarters on the Ohio, near Steubenville, in
the famous "Mingo Bottom"
The locales were subject, of course to con-
slant change, owing to strife among the
various tribes. In 1746, when the French
man Celeron, placed his lead-plates in the
Ohio river. he found in Logstown, Just above
the mouth of Great Beaver creek, (now
Mahoning river. which La Sale probably ex-
plored in 1667-71,) mixed tribes of Indians
Iroquois from different places, Shawnees,
Delawares and also Nipissings and Abenakes
from Canada, and Ottawas from the lake
shore. Washington, in his report in 1854,
mentions Delawares at the mouth of Beaver
creek, Kuskuskas sixteen miles above, and
above that was "Owendo's Town. Wyandots.
On an English map made in 1855 by John
Mitchell London, "Kushkies" is said to be
''the chief town of the Six Nations on the
Ohio, an English factory" And the "Owen-
dots" were on the east branch of the Beaver.
At the mouth of the Beaver Shingoes Min
goesY town was located on a contemporan-
eous map. ,..s ..
Colonel Boquet, in his expedition in 1894,
found the Delawares in the Tuscarawas VAL
Icy; thirty years later their stronghold was on
the Scioto river, in Delaware county, and at
Nyrwr, ~, ~ r
strongest on the Scioto, had removed to the
Little Miami river in the time of st. Clair's
and Wayne's wars. As early as 1748, the
Shawnees had their chief town on the Ohio
river, "Logstown," seventeen miles from
Pittsburg; this town and Shawneetown, at the
mouth of the Ohio, were the only towns not
abandoned by the Sbawnees when they were
originally driven southwark by the Iroquois
invasion.
After this invasion the various tribes seem
to have banded together through mutual
fear of the Iroquois enemy; and this bond of
symathy grew stronger as the gradual en-
croachments of the white people crowded
them back from their ancient strongholds;
hence the divisions and distinctions were
gradually obliterated. As late as 1871 the
different tribes were nassed in Northwestern
Ohio, the Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis,
Mingoes, Senecas and Chippewas being then
on the Maumee-a corruption of Mainland
its tributaries, and they extended downward
to the Scioto and Miami head-waters. [[\
THEIR ORIGINAL DOMAINS AND THEIR HISTORY.
1t remains now to notice the various tribes
in their original ensemble and the extent of
their original domain before closing the re-
cord. The Delawares, or Lenni- -Lenapes-
having the Wolf totein-owned the eastern
half Of the State practically, and came from
the West, according to their national tradi-
tons. They separated themselves from their
parent stock, whatever that was, many GEN.
turIes before the advent of the white men,
and migrated slowly eastward. They en-
countered the deadly Iroquois on rthe Ale
gheny river, where they subiugated the
Allegwi, "a race of giants" and then con-
tinued on down the Delaware river, named
from them, and eventually spread to the
Hudson, to the Potomac, and largely around
and upon the SusquehannaS rivers. They
were OF high rank among savage peoples, and
the chlefest foes of the Iroquois, who finally
sqblugated them through treachery and
strategem. They then concentrated upon
theAIiegheny, and about 1745 had retreated
INTO Ohio; where they. soon became more pros
porous and fourishing than ever during the
next twenty years, and in 1764 they had not
less than six hundred warriors. They were
divided into three principal tribes called the
Unamis, Unrlachtgo and Minsi or Muncie,
(or in other words the Turtle, Turkey and
Wolf tribes.) The latter was the most war
like tribe; but the Delawares, as whole,
were not a war-like nation, and readily
embraced Christianity. Their principal
chiefs, were ''White Eyes" and "Captain
Pipe, ,"-sachems of the peace and war fac
tions; Netawatmes and Buckongahelas, King
Newcomer and Half-King were also noted
chiefs of this powerful nation.
The earliest strictly historical account we
have of the Delaware Indians makes them
abject dependents upon the Five Nations,
who claimed their territory by conquest and
sold it by that title. In 1745 the remnant of
the Delaware Indians were ordered by the
Iroquois to remove to Shamokin or Wyom-
ing; but their friends, the missionaries, told
them that it was doubtful if they would be
permitted to reside at either of these places.
At last they accepted the invitation of the
Wyandots to come to Ohio, where they grew
so strong, that with the aid and countenanc-
ing of the Wyandots, they defed the Iroquois
Confederacy and made frequent incursions
iuto Pennsylvania. But at this time, how
ever, the Delawares had become mixture of
many races and members of the original ma
tion were scattered all over the country
After the treaty at Greenville they again re-
treated by permission of the Miamis to the
head-waters of the White river in Indiana, a
branch of the Wabash. They could boast, i'll
1853, of 600 warriors and ten years later that
number had only decreased 100.
The main Delaware towns in Ohio were at
or near the confluence of the Muskingum
and Tuscarawas rivers, region rich in old
Indian names. The "Mooskingom" river
70 no 10 on a no